January 2013 Blog Posts (10)

In October 2010, I attended the American Dental Association’s annual conference in Orlando. Just a few months before, I started a Facebook page for our practice and was struggling to come up with new & interesting posts. So, while at the conference, I attended a presentation on Social Media to learn how to use Facebook to benefit the…

Do you have a specialist practicing part time in your office? Most specialists these days are traveling to more than one office in order to increase their productivity by reaching out to new patient populations. This approach works! Specialists who travel and spend a day working with a general dentist enjoy a significantly higher productivity level than those who work in just their…

Do you remember the tale of the Great and Powerful Oz? Sure, you may remember how he appeared to Dorothy and her friends once they arrived in the Emerald City, but do you remember how he got there? A simple magician from Kansas, he was blown to Oz in his hot air balloon. Dorothy used a house; he used a balloon. They both ended up over the rainbow.

Once he arrived in Oz, the former sideshow magician was seen as an all-powerful wizard. It wasn't that he had changed, but rather what…

I’m a big fan of the magazine Real Simple. My favorite is the ‘New uses for old things’ section where they take something you use every day for one thing – and then come up with a unique way to utilize this item. Here are theHall of Fame favorites by Real Simple just for fun.

Let's be honest. We're all human and we all have gas. It's just a fact of life. People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive? Those Victoria's Secret models? Yep, they let one rip every once in a while.

While it may be in our human nature to pass gas ... or fart ... or make wind ... or whatever you want to call it, rarely do we actually want to smell it coming from someone else. I have friends who have told me horror stories about people farting and then pulling the bed covers over…

Have you ever watched a yoga video? Filmed in a serene nature setting, speaking in a calming voice, the yoga master easily lifts one leg up behind her while leaning forward with the opposite arm. Slowly, smoothly, easily holding the pose for minutes at a time.

Have you tried yoga personally? I tried this exact pose and I could see my reflection in the window and burst out…

I happen to know a few people who quarrel over a bill. In one sense, I admire them, particularly when the bill contains a long list of surcharges that seem to border on insanity.

The closest I come to any sort of eruption are hotel bills. Every governmental entity within 200 miles adds a tax to the bill viewed when I check out. For environmental reasons, the hotel leaves a little placard out asking if I would mind using the same towel twice. I use the same towel multiple times at…

A book I recently checked off against my bucket list was 2000’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris. I have been trying to read books nominated for the Thurber Prize for American Humor (Sedaris won the award for this book in 2001). The book certainly has my recommendation for anyone seeking a belly laugh or two, but I want to briefly refer to a couple of quotes from it.

The essays in “Me Talk Pretty One Day” come across as being biographical for the most part. There are many…

As all dental office managers and small business owners know, right now its end of month, end of quarter and end of year. For me, it’s time to measure the results of the year – time to see how all the projects, new ideas, and meetings turned out. It always feels like report card time when I run my end of year numbers – and like any good schoolgirl, I want all A’s.

That’s why I was particularly happy to see my new patient number for 2012: 1,111 new patients. The last time our practice…

There were plenty of vendors at the market by the Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy, today. There were plenty who had the wares we were looking for, and there were plenty of price points on those wares in the various tents. We had walked around in the rain, and popped in and out of tents, for about 30 minutes before we came across Ivan. With a smile (which I perceived as real, not just plastered on), he welcomed us into his small tent. I looked around and saw some things that appealed to me and… Continue